Electronic musical instrument with rhythm selection pulse generator

ABSTRACT

An electronic musical instrument for automatically changeing tone colors of musical sounds comprises a plurality of tone color formation circuits for providing different tone colors to a tone signal selectively derived from tone generators in response to operation of a keyboard and a switch circuit having switching elements for receiving the differently tone-colored signals respectively. The switch elements are rendered conductive to pass the tone signals therethrough in a preselected order in response to control signals which are recorded on one channel of a twochannel recording medium such as a stereophonic disk or tape. The other channel of the recording medium is recorded with musican information adapted to accompany a melody performance to be carried out by a player with the electronic musical instrument. The control signals are recorded on the recording medium at so proper positions thereof that musical sounds being produced by the electronic musical instrument are caused to be varied at proper points of time in conformity with melody and accompaniment performances. The control signals may be utilized to control rhythm section sounds in various ways.

United States Patent 11 1 Hirano May 28, 1974 ELECTRONIC MUSICALINSTRUMENT Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson WITH RHYTHM SELECTIONPULSE Assistant ExaminerStanley J. Witkowski GENERATOR Attorney, Agent,or Firm-Kemon, Palmer & [75] Inventor: Katsuhiko Hirano, Shizuoka, JapanEstabrook [73] Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki [57] ABSTRACTKalsha, Hamamatsu-sh1, Japan An electromc musical instrument forautomatlcally [22] Flledi 17, 1972 changeing tone colors of musicalsounds comprises a [211 App]. No: 281,561 plurality of tone colorformation circuits for providing different tone colors to a tone signalselectively derived from tone generators in response to operation ofForelgn Apphcatlon Prwmy Data a keyboard and a switch circuit havingswitching ele- Aug. 20, 1971 Japan 46-62980 ments for receiving thedifferently tone-colored signals respectively. The switch elements arerendered con- [52] US. Cl. 84/ 1.03, 84/D1G. 12 ductive to pass the tonesignals therethrough in a pre- [51] Int. Cl. G1011 1/00 selected orderin response to control signals which are [58] Field of Search 84/ 1.01,1.03, 1.17, 1.24, recorded on one channel of a two-channel recording84/DIG. 22, 1.13, 1.26, DIG. 12 medium such as a stereophonic disk ortape. The other channel of the recording medium is recorded [56]References Cited with musican information adapted to accompany a UNITEDSTATES PATENTS melody performance to be carried out by a player with3,546,355 12/1970 Maynard s4 1.03 the electronic musical instrument lcomm] Signals 3,567,838 3 1971 Tennes et a1. are'recorded the recordingmedlum at $0 P p 3,585,891 6/1971 Schwartz et al. 84/1.03 POSitiOnsthereof that musical Sounds being Produced 3,629,480 12/1971 Harris 84/1.03 by the electronic musical instrument are caused to be 3,637,9141/1972 Hiyama 84/1.03 varied at proper points of time in conformity withmel- 3,646,242 2/1972 Okamoto 84/l.03 dy and accompaniment performanoe5The control 3,760,088 9/1973 Nakada 84/l.03 signals may be utilized toConn-0| rhythm Section 3,763,305 10/1973 Nakada et al 84/l.03 Sounds invarious ways. 3,764,722 10/1973 Southard 84]].03

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures CLOCK 5 61 RESET clRcplT 5 2 COUN TER 1 a i:11* it RHYTHM PATTERN RHYTHM ON/OFF 62 R65 PULSE GEN. -53

RHYTHM PREAMP g( )gJE9L m SELECTING L n DETECTOR E TONE E 355 NRHYTHM a2% 59- @9 m I i [5 set-Este 111 1 4 54 DIFFERENTIATOR ggfig 1F 57 TONE63 cfifiifio t E W i $zf91$10- N GEN. T

PERCUSSION TONE BGENS OUTPUT PATENTEBIIII 28 1974 MET 1 0F 3 TONE TONEKEYBOARD GENERATORS T SECTION gPt-gg 2O TONE 8 OUTPUT COLORING 2 xFILTER 21 180 TONE g COLORING FILTER IGb I5 I -18b cONTROL J60 sIGNAL gOETEcTOR MTG S I8c STEREOPHONIC DISK OR TAPE REPRODUCER 2 L 4 I A! AELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WITH RHYTHM SELECTION PULSE GENERATORBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an electronicmusical instrument and more particularly to an electronic musicalinstrument capable of automatically changing tone colors of musicalsounds or controlling rhythm accompaniment section sounds in variousways in accordance with advance of a performance effected by a player.

With a conventionally designed electronic musical instrument, tonecolors of musical sounds being produced are caused to be varied byoperation of manual preset switches and the like by a player during aperformance. In order to provide rhythm effects to a performance of anelectronic musical instrument, there is utilized an automatic rhythmperformance apparatus which may be incorporated into the electronicmusical instrument or separately provided therefrom. In this case. theplayer must operate manual switches arranged on the automatic rhythmperformance apparatus to control rhythm sounds in generation thereof,rhythm patterns or tone colors associated therewith independently ofoperation of a manual keyboard of the electronic musical instrument. Asmentioned above, since it is necessary for a player to operate manyswitches in addition to operation of a keyboard of an electronic musicalinstrument to carry out an effective performance, an extremely hightechnique is required to play the electronic musical instrument.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronicmusical instrument in which a player can carry out effectiveperformances without operation of many switches.

It is another object to provide an electronic musical instrument capableof automatically changing tone colors of musical sounds, or controllingrhythm sounds in generation thereof, rhythm patterns or tone colorsassociated therewith in response to external control signals.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the presentinvention there is provided an electronic musical instrument comprising:tone generators; a keyboard section coupled to the tone generators forselectively drawing out tone signals from the tone generators; aplurality of tone color formation means coupled to the keyboard sectionfor providing different tone colors to the tone signals selectivelydrawn out from the tone generators; a switching circuit coupled to saidplural tone color formation means and having switching elements forreceiving the differently tone-colored signals respectively, theswitching elements being sequentially enabled in response to controlsignals from a control signal source to pass the differentlytone-colored signals therethrough in a preselected order.

In accordance with the present invention there is used a two-channelrecording medium such as a stereophonic disk or tape. The controlsignals are recorded on one channel of the recording medium and theother channel of the recording medium is recorded with musicalinformation which may be adapted to accompany a melody performance to becarried out by the electronic musical instrument.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram ofan electronic musical instrument embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a two-track magnetic tape as a two-channel recording mediumutilized in the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows especially circuit diagrams of control signal detector andpreset switching circuit shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention wherein controlsignals are utilized to control rhythm sounds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. 1, tonesignals from tone generators 11 are selectively fed through a keyboardsection 12 of an electronic musical instrument to a plurality of, forexample, first, second and third tone coloring filters 13, 14 and 15.The output signals of the tone coloring filters l3, l4 and 15 are mixedthrough tone volumes (variable resistors for volume control) 16a, 17aand 18a to produce a first musical tone signal. Further, the outputsignals of the tone coloring filters 13, 14 and 15 are mixed through twosets of tone volumes 16b, 17b and 18b and 16c, 17c and to produce secondand third musical tone signals, respectively. By adjusting therespective tone volumes, the first, second and third musical tonesignals are permitted to have different tone colors from each other. Thefirst through third musical tone signals are selectively conductedthrough a preset switching circuit 19 to an amplifier 20 which isfollowed by a loud speaker (not shown) through a terminal 21.

The preset switching circuit 19 mentioned above is controlled by controlsignals from a multi-channel (such as stereophonic) reproducer 22 whichreproduces simultaneously two or more channel signals from amulti-channel recording medium such as a stereophonic disk or tape. Forexample, a magnetic tape 23 as the multi-channel recording medium has,as shown in FIG. 2, at least two tracks 24 and 25, the first track 24 ofwhich being recorded with musical information adapted to accompany amelody performance to be carried out by the electronic musicalinstrument, and the second track 25 of which being recorded with thecontrol signals designated at A and B. The control signals may berecorded on the second track 25 of the magnetic tape 23 at properpositions, for example, at positions corresponding to boundary portionsbetween respective musical phrases of musical information recorded onthe first track 24 of the tape 23.

The reproduced control signals from the reproducer 22 are detected by adetector 26, and the preset switching circuit 19 is controlled by thecontrol signals so as to select the first musical tone signal inaccordance with the first control signal A, for example, and the secondmusical tone signal with the second control signal B.

With the electronic musical instrument constructed as mentioned above, aplayer operates a keyboard to play the electronic musical instrument inaccordance with accompaniments reproduced from the first track 24 of thetape 23 by the reproducer 22. At the same time, in accordance withadvance of the melody and accompaniment performances, the controlsignals are fed to the preset switching circuit 19 from the reproducer22 through the detector 26 to automatically change the tone colors ofmusical sounds being produced by the electronic musical instrument.

With reference to FIG. 3 there will now be discussed in more detail thepreset switching circuit 19 and control signal detector 26 of FIG. 1.The reproducer 22 comprises a well known pickup or head assembly 30 forreproducing stereophonic disks or tapes. The first and second reproducedoutputs from the pickup or head assembly 30 are supplied to first andsecond preamplifiers 31 and 32 respectively. The first reproduced outputcorresponds to the musical information recorded on the first channel 24of the tape 23 and the second reproduced output to the control signalsrecorded on the second channel 25. Accordingly, the output signals ofthe preamplifier are supplied to the control signal detector 26 whichcomprises an amplifier 33 and a Schmitt circuit 34 following thereafter.The Schmitt circuit 34 produces an output when the output level of theamplifier 33 reaches the threshold level of the Schmitt circuit.

The preset switching circuit 19 comprises two cascade-connectedflip-flop circuits 35 and 36 and the first one 35 ofwhich beingconnected to receive theoutput of the Schmitt circuit 34. Output leadsa, b, c and d of the respective flip-flop circuits 35 and 36 are coupledto two-input AND circuits 37, 38 and 39 with predetermined selectivecombinations of respective outputs of the flip-flop circuits 35 and 36.Thus, the AND circuits 37, 38 and 39 produce positively going sequentialpulses 37A, 38A and 39A, the widths of which are equal to time intervalsbetween control signals recorded on the recording medium.

There are disposed between input terminals 43, 44 and 45 receiving thefirst, second and third musical tone signals respectively and an outputterminal 46 of I the preset switching circuit 19 field effecttransistors of switching elements 40, 41 and 42 the gates or controlelectrodes of which receive the enabling signals 37A, 38A and 39A fromthe AND circuits 37, 38 and 39 respectively.

The operation of the preset switching circuit 19 shown in FIG. 3 is asfollows:

Upon reproduction of the first control signal A, for example, recordedon the recording medium 23 shown in FIG. 2 by means of the pickup orhead assembly the Schmitt circuit 34 included in the control signaldetector 26 produces an output which in turn reverses the state of theflip-flop circuit 35. The reversed state of the flip-flop circuit ismaintained until the next control signal B is reproduced.

In accordance with the states of the flip-flop circuits 35 and 36, theAND circuit 37, for example, produces an output signal 37A to render thecorresponding switching element conductive. As a result, the first tonesignal supplied to the input terminal 43 is fed to the output terminal46. Next, upon reproduction of the control signal B, the AND circuit 38,for example, produces an output signal 38A to feed the second tonesignal from the input terminal 44 to the output termianl 46. In thiscase, since the AND circuit 37 has ceased to produce the output signal37A, the first tone signal is not conducted to the output terminal 46.In such manner as mentioned above, the first, second and third tonesignals are sequentially drawn out at the output terminal 46. It shouldbe noted that, after the third tone signal has been drawn out, therewill exist a period of time wherein all the switching elements 40, 41and 42 are simultaneously rendered nonconductive so that none of thetone signals is drawn out at the output terminal 46. This can be used asa pause period. This pause, however, can be prevented by recording onthe recording medium a control signal immediately behind the controlsignal by which the passage of the third tone signal from the inputterminal 45 to the output terminal 46 is caused to be stopped. That isto say, by rendering the simultaneously nonconducting period of all theswitching elements 40, 41 and 42 extremely short, it becomes possible torender the switching elements 42 and 40 conductive substantially insuccession.

The accompaniment signals reproduced from the recording medium by meansof the pickup or head assembly 30 may be applied through thepreamplifier 31 to an amplifier and in turn a loud speaker (not shown)associated with the reproducer 22, but may be otherwise mixed with thetone signals from the preset switching circuit 19 as shown.

The reference numeral 47 is a switch to reset both the flip-flopcircuits 35 and 36, which is used by a player after play of acomposition to prepare for performance of a next composition.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of another embodiment of the presentinvention which is applied to the automatic rhythm playing apparatus. InFIG. 4, clock pulses from a clock pulse generator 51 are applied to acounter 52 including a plurality of cascade-connected flip-flopcircuits. Two output leads of the respective flip-flop circuits of thecounter 52 are coupled to a well known rhythm pattern pulse generator 53which includes AND circuits for producing a plurality of sequentialpulses in accordance with outputs of the flipflop circuits in thecounter 52, and a matrix circuit for producing a plurality of rhythmsignals each having a preselected rhythm pattern with selectivecombinations of the sequential pulses. The rhythm signals from therhythm pattern pulse generator 53 are respectively coupled to inputterminals of a rhythm selection circuit 54 which has a common outputterminal. The rhythm sleection circuit 54 comprises a plurality ofswitching elements or field effect transistors 55 connected between therespective input terminals and the common output termianl. The outputterminal of the rhythm selection circuit 54 is connected to a singleinput terminal of a tone generator cancellation circuit 56 havingmultiple output terminals. There are disposed switching elements orfield effect transistors 57 between the single input terminal and therespective output terminals of the tone generator cancellation circuit56. The output terminals of the tone generator cancellation circuit 56are respectively coupled to input terminals of percussion tonegenerators 58 producing tone signals of percussion instruments such ascymbals, maracas, claves and drums when activated by output signals ofthe tone generator cancellation circuit 56.

The control signals reproduced from the recording medium are suppliedthrough the preamplifier 32 and detector 26 to a differentiator 59,output signals of which are selectively supplied to a reset circuit 61,a rhythm selecting pulse generator 62 or a precussion tone generatorcancelling pulse generator 63 through a manual single-pole triple-throwswitch 60.

The reset circuit 61 includes a flip-flop circuit 64, output of which iscoupled to the respective flip-flop circuits of the counter 52.

The rhythm selecting pulse generator 62 produces, in response to theoutput signals of the differentiator 59, positively going sequentialpulses 65 for rendering conductive the switching elements 55 in therhythm selection circuit 54 respectively. The precussion tone generatorcancelling pulse generator 63 produces, in response to the outputsignals of the differentiator 59, negatively going sequential pulses 66for rendering nonconductive the switching elements 57 in the tonegenerator cancellation circuit 56 respectively.

There will now be described the operation of the electronic musicalinstrument shown in FIG. 4. Upon connection of the movable contact ofthe manual switch 60 to an upper fixed contact termed as RHYTHM ON/OFF,the flip-flop circuit 64 reverses its state in response to the outputsignals of the differentiator 59 every time a control signal isreproduced. Accordingly, the respective flip-flop circuits of thecounter 52 are reset or set in accordance with the state of theflip-flop circuit 64 in the reset circuit 61. The counter 52 counts theclock pulses from the clock pulse generator 51 when the respectiveflip-flop circuits thereof are set so that the rhythm pattern pulsegenerator 53 produces the rhythm pattern pulses or rhythm signals at therespective output leads thereof. One of these rhythm signals havingdifferentrhythm patterns from each other is fed to the tone generatorcancellation circuit 56 through a single conducting one of the switchingelements 55 in the rhythm selection circuit 54. In the tone generatorcancellation circuit 56, the switching elements 57 are conducted exceptone so that the rhythm signal from the rhythm selection circuit 54 issupplied through the conducting switching elements 57 to the precussiontone generators 58 connected thereto, to thereby obtain a plurality ofprecussion sounds with an identical rhythm pattern.

Next, when the movable contact of the manual switch 60 is connected to amiddle fixed contact termed as RHYTHM SELECTION the output signals ofthe differentiator 59 are supplied to the rhythm selecting pulsegenerator 62 which comprises a plurality of cascade-connected flip-flopcircuits and AND circuit like the preset switching circuit 19 shown inFIG. 3. in the absence of the output signals from the differentiator 59,that is, when the movable contact of the switch 60 is not connected tothe middle fixed contact, the rhythm selecting pulse generator 62produces one positively going pulse at an output terminal thereof inaccordance with the states of the respective flip-flop circuits tothereby render only one of the switching elements 55 conductive. Uponsuccessive reception of the output signals from the differentiator 59,the rhythm selecting pulse generator 62 generates positively goingsequential pulses at the output leads thereof so that the switchingelements 55 of the rhythm selection circuit 54 are rendered conductivesequentially whereby respective ones of predetermined rhythm patternsare sequentially selected.

Where the movable contact of the manual switch 60 is connected to alower fixed contact termed as TONE GENERATOR SELECTION. the precussiontone generator cancelling pulse generator 63 produces negatively goingpulses 66 sequentially at the output leads thereof. The switchingelements 57 of the tone generator cancellation circuit 56 aresequentially rendered nonconductive by the negatively going pulses 66 sothat the percussion tone generators 58 are sequentially cancelled insuch a manner that only one of the percussion tone generators which haveheretofore been energized is deenergized and the remaining onepercussion tone generator which has heretofore been deenergized isenergized. The percussion tone generator cancelling pulse generator 63includes a plurality of cascadeconnected flip-flop circuits and ANDcircuits which are constructed so as to produce the negatively goingpulses. in case the cancelling pulse generator 63 receives no outputsignals from the differentiator, one negatively going pulse is generatedin accordance with the states of the respective flip-flop circuitsincluded therein to disable only the corresponding one of the switchingelements 57 in the tone generator cancellation circuit 56. it will beappreciated that where the cancellation pulse generator 63 producespositively going pulses like the rhythm selecting pulse generator 62,then the percussion tone generators are selectively energized one byone.

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a clock pulse generator;

a counrer connected to receive clock pulses from said clock pulsegenerator, said counter having a plurality of flip-flop circuits;

a rhythm pattern pulse generator connected to receive output signalsfrom the respective flip-flop circuits in said counter for producing aplurality of rhythm signals each having a predetermined rhythm pattern;

a rhythm selection circuit including a plurality of input terminalsconnected to receive said plurality of said rhythm signals respectively,an output terminal, and switching elements connected between said outputterminal and said respective input terminals;

a tone generator cancellation circuit having an input terminal connectedto said output terminal of said rhythm selection circuit, a plurality ofoutput terminals, and switching elements connected between said inputterminal and said respective output terminals;

percussion tone generators connected to said output terminals of saidtone generator cancellation circuit respectively;

a reset circuit having a flip-flop circuit an output of which is coupledto the respective flip-flop circuits in said counter, said reset circuitsetting or resetting the respective flip-flop circuits in said counterin response to control signals from an external control signal source;

a rhythm selecting pulse generator for producing sequentially pulses inresponse to said control signals, each of said sequential pulses beingapplied to each of said switching elements in said rhythm selectioncircuit to render said switching elements conductive sequentially;

a percussion tone generator cancelling pulse generator for producingsequential pulses in response to said control signals, each of saidsequential pulses being applied to each of said switching elements insaid tone generator cancellation circuit to render said switchingelements nonconductive sequentially; and I a manual switch connected toreceive said control signals from said external control signal sourcefor selectively supplying said control signals to said reset circuit,rhythm selecting pulse generator and said percussion tone generatorcancelling pulse generator.

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising: a clock pulse generator;a counrer connected to receive clock pulSes from said clock pulsegenerator, said counter having a plurality of flip-flop circuits; arhythm pattern pulse generator connected to receive output signals fromthe respective flip-flop circuits in said counter for producing aplurality of rhythm signals each having a predetermined rhythm pattern;a rhythm selection circuit including a plurality of input terminalsconnected to receive said plurality of said rhythm signals respectively,an output terminal, and switching elements connected between said outputterminal and said respective input terminals; a tone generatorcancellation circuit having an input terminal connected to said outputterminal of said rhythm selection circuit, a plurality of outputterminals, and switching elements connected between said input terminaland said respective output terminals; percussion tone generatorsconnected to said output terminals of said tone generator cancellationcircuit respectively; a reset circuit having a flip-flop circuit anoutput of which is coupled to the respective flip-flop circuits in saidcounter, said reset circuit setting or resetting the respective flipflopcircuits in said counter in response to control signals from an externalcontrol signal source; a rhythm selecting pulse generator for producingsequentially pulses in response to said control signals, each of saidsequential pulses being applied to each of said switching elements insaid rhythm selection circuit to render said switching elementsconductive sequentially; a percussion tone generator cancelling pulsegenerator for producing sequential pulses in response to said controlsignals, each of said sequential pulses being applied to each of saidswitching elements in said tone generator cancellation circuit to rendersaid switching elements nonconductive sequentially; and a manual switchconnected to receive said control signals from said external controlsignal source for selectively supplying said control signals to saidreset circuit, rhythm selecting pulse generator and said percussion tonegenerator cancelling pulse generator.